FOR THE CARRY ROYAL RUNNING MORTUARY. ALSO TONIGHT, REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF EXECUTED JOURNALIST STEVE SOTLOFF. FAMILY AND FRIENDS GATHERING OUTSIDE JOURNALISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, LOCAL 10 NEWS REPORTER WAS THERE. HIS SMILE WAS AS BIG AS HIS HEART, AND HE HAD A BIG HEART. HE CAUSED ME A FEW GRAY HAIRS THERE. SHARED TODAY WITH THE WORLD THAT KNOWS HIM NOW. WE HAVE IN OUR MIDST SUCH VIOLENCE. SUPPORT THE FAMILY, AND SUPPORT AMERICA. UP SIDE THE SYNAGOGUE, THERE WAS A FAMILY PERSONAL FUNERAL, AND A NATION HONORING A HERO WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FIGHTING TERRORISM. THOUGH HE DID SO WITH WORDS AND RESEARCH, AND INTELLECT, A PERSONAL CONNECTION FOR THOSE FROM AROUND THE WORLD COVERING THE MEMORIAL. AND MULTIAGENCY SECURITY FOR A SYNAGOGUE IN THE SPOTLIGHT. HIS JEWISH FAITH THAT WE NOW KNOW HE TRIED TO HIDE FROM HIS ISIS CAPTORS THE FAMILY SAID THAT FAITH THAT HUMANISM, THAT IS WHY HE DID WHAT HE DID. HIS MOTHER SPOKE OF HIM LIVING HIS PASSION, AND WITH THE SAME COMMON POISED SHE USED IN A PLEA TO HIS CAPTORS LAST WEEK, WE NOW KNOW IS FUTILE. HIS FATHER WAS MORE OPENLY TEARFUL, I HAVE LOST MY SON, AND BEST FRIEND, HE SAID, BUT I KNOW HIS PASSING WILL CHANGE THE WORLD. I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW HE SURVIVED IT. IN ONE OF TWO LETTERS HE HAD SMUGGLED FROM A YEAR IN CAPTIVITY TO HIS FAMILY, IT WAS LAST MAY, PLEASE KNOW I AM OKAY, HE WROTE, LIVE YOUR LIVES TO THE FULLEST, STAY POSITIVE AND PATIENT, IF WE ARE NOT TOGETHER AGAIN, PERHAPS GOD WILL BE MERCIFUL ENOUGH TO REUNITE US IN HEAVEN. HE UNMAPPED THE EVIL THAT TRULY IS THIS GROUP.

PINECREST, Fla. -

A memorial service was held Friday for the South Florida journalist who was beheaded by the Islamic State group ISIS.

The public service for Steven Sotloff began at 1 p.m. at Temple Beth Am on Southwest 88th Street.

Local 10 News reporter, Glenna Milberg, attended the service and said Sotloff's father, Arthur Sotloff spoke briefly, breaking the collective silence in the congregation.

Quick Clicks

"I have lost my son and my best friend, but I know his passing will change the world," said Art Sotloff.

Steven's sister, Lauren, also spoke.

"To this day, music reminds me of you and our special bond," said Lauren before her boyfriend held up his cellphone to the microphone and played Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here".

Sotloff, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, had last been seen in Syria in August 2013 until he appeared in a video released online last month by the Islamic State group that showed the beheading of fellow American journalist James Foley.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against the backdrop of an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the group in Iraq.

In the video entitled "A Second Message to America," Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is beheaded by a masked Islamic State fighter.

Sotloff spoke to the camera before his execution, saying he is "paying the price" for U.S. intervention.

During Friday's service a letter from Steven was read aloud, which he had smuggled out during his captivity in May.

"Do what makes you happy, be where you are happy," wrote Sotloff. "Don't fight over nonsense. Surround yourself with strong, wise people."

Another part of the letter stated, "Please know that I am OK. Live your lives to the fullest. Stay positive and patient. If we're not together again, perhaps God will be merciful enough to reunite us in heaven."

The Miami-Dade police bomb squad was at the high-profile memorial service as a precaution. Officers from law enforcement agencies as far as Palm Beach County directed traffic and searched cars as they entered the temple.

"The irony is that he went to the Middle East to tell the story that these are not our enemies -- these are human beings," said Rabbi Terry Bookman.

Bookman had known Sotloff since he was a grade schooler at the temple. Bookman is both a friend and spiritual advisor to Sotloff's parents. He told Local 10 News reporter Roger Lohse that he often counseled their son before his trips to cover the war-torn Middle East. Bookman said the Middle East was a place where Sotloff felt safe.

"He felt that because he learned how to speak Arabic and because of who he was, he knew how to get in and out of trouble -- and I think he felt that way here, too," said Bookman. "I believe that he thought he was going to be released and see his family again."

Bookman said last week's public plea by Shirley Sotloff to her son's ISIS captors followed a year of trying to keep his kidnapping low profile. He said the family worked with newspapers and TV networks behind the scenes to erase any online reference to his Jewish faith.

Bookman said the videotape message was a carefully worded plea to ISIS leaders to follow their Islamic principles and temper justice with mercy.

"Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears because we're dealing with a level of violence and inhumanity that I don't think we've seen for sometime in our world," said Bookman.

As many as 1,000 mourners attended Friday's service, many who whom didn't know Sotloff. Sotloff was a man who his rabbi said had great respect for Islam and only wanted his words and pictures to build a bridge between ideologies.

"They destroyed somebody who could have been a friend," said Bookman.

Friday's service ended with the congregation standing for Kaddish, a traditional Jewish prayer for the deceased. Taken literally, it is a celebration of life.

IN MIAMI, I'M JOHN TURCHIN, LOCAL10 NEWS. JOHN, THANK YOU. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE PACK INTO A TEMPLE IN PINECREST TODAY TO MOURN THE MURDER OF MIAMI JOURNAL IS STEVEN SOTLOFF AT THE HANDS OF ISIS MILITANTS. SECURITY WAS TIGHT FOR TODAY'S MEMORIAL WHICH WAS COVERED BY NEWS ORGANIZATIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. LET'S GET TO LOCAL10'S CARLOS SUAREZ. HE IS LIVE IN PINECREST WITH MORE ON THE SERVICE. VICTOR, MANY OF THE JOURNALISTS HAVE SPENT THE BETTER PART OF THE LAST WEEK OUTSIDE THE SOTLOFF HOME HERE IN PINECREST, AND EACH REALLY ARE TELLING THE SAME STORY BUT TO A DIFFERENT AUDIENCE THAT IS ASKING A SLEW OF DIFFERENT QUESTIONS. THE MEDIA ATTENTION A SOMETIMES WAS OVERWHELMING. JOURNALISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD GATHERED OUTSIDE THE SITE OF FRIDAY'S SERVICE TO GET A SENSE OF A PRIVATE MEMORIAL THAT PLAYED OUT IN A VERY PUBLIC WAY. I THINK THE WORLD IS WORRIED, SAID ANTONY BELLCHI A JOURNAL IS COVERING THE STORY 4 A NEWS NETWORK IN SPAIN, AN AUDIENCE THAT HE SAYS VIEWS THE U.S.'S RESPONSE TO STEVEN SOTLOFF'S DEATH DIFFERENTLY. CAPTIONS PERFORMED BY CAPTION IT ---www.caption-it.com--- THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT HAS NEVER PUBLIC SAID IT PAYS FOR RANSOMS BUT THEY DO IT, HE SAYS. PART THE DEBATE OVERSEAS IS WHETHER THE PRACTICE HAS MADE THINGS WORSE. JUST AS VISIBLE AS THE CAMERAS WERE POLICE, LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AS FAR NORTH AS PALM BEACH COUNTY WERE ON LAND TO MAKE SURE THE SERVICE RAN SMOOTHLY. CARS WERE SEARCHED AND DELIVERIES, INCLUDING FLOWERS, WERE MADE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE TEMPLE. EVERYBODY IS REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THIS WHOLE SITUATION, BUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND IN LATIN AMERICA ESPECIALLY ALL THE PEOPLE IS TALKING ABOUT -- ABOUT WHAT IS THE UNITED STATES DOING ABOUT THIS. Reporter: A TOPIC THAT IS BEING RAISED IN SOME OF THE REPORTING FROM A NEWS NETWORK IN COLOMBIA THAT COVERED THE SERVICE. JOURNALISTS FROM ISRAEL WERE ALSO ON HAND. THEY BEGAN THE DAY OUTSIDE OF THE THE SOTLOFF HOME IN PINECREST. NOW, FOR SOME OF THE JOURNALESE THAT WERE HERE, THE STORY DOES HIT CLOSE TO HOME. THE CREW FROM SPAIN TOLD ME THEY HAD COLLEAGUES BACK HOME WHO WERE KIDNAPPED AND THEN LATER RELEASED WHEN THEIR RANSOM WAS PAID FOR.

Copyright 2014 by Local10.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. Please note by clicking on "Post" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms Of Service and the comment you are posting is in compliance with such terms.